October 30, 2017

You guys. You may call this vain, but can we agree that one of life’s smallest yet greatest pleasures are beauty products?

Going back eons, women have embraced beauty rituals and products–not just for what they do for our appearance, though yes please make me more beautiful and rested looking and while you’re at it can you get rid of these weird hairs that have started popping up on my chin–but for how they make us feel.

And how do they make us feel? Good. So good. So relaxed. And so not like your own needs are perpetually at the end of your To-Do list, as is the case with most women, most of the time.

Those precious ten minutes I spend at the end of any given day when I wash my face are sometimes the first ones that I’ve dedicated to only me.

(Side note: Typically I would reference a shower as the other “me time,” but my showering ritual falls more under “hasty and breakneck” than “long and relaxing” these days,” going something like this. 1 – Hop in shower. 2 – Peer out the shower door and make sure the baby hasn’t wiggled out of her bouncy chair. 3 – Listen for sounds of screaming and alarm from the other end of the house where the big kids are, and hope they are far, far away from matches and sharp edges. 4 – Scrub body furiously and shave. 5 – Run, dripping, from the shower, grab baby just before she slips out of her chair, and voila. There you go. Four minutes of sheer not at all relaxation, but definitely just making sure I don’t stink.)

So aaaaaanyhow… Beauty products. 😀

Like I said in my previous post about fall skincare, the focus for me when the colder temperatures hit is to boost moisture. And one of the best ways to get some extra moisture is with hyaluronic acid. That’s the main ingredient in Nip + Fab’s Dragon’s Blood Fix Hyaluronic Shot. (P.S. “Dragon’s Blood”–while evoking for me the desire to put on a flowing red frock, wear a crown braid and relentlessly pursue my Westley through tracts of impenetrable forest–is actually not some mythical ingredient at all, but per Nip + Fab’s website, “a sap found in the Croton Lechleri tree in the Amazon, it works to protect and heal the skin from all outside aggressions.” But still: I love me some Westley.)

And apparently dragon’s blood is some good stuff, because this serum gave a serious hydrating boost to my skin when I layered it under my moisturizer.

Just put a few drops into your palms, warm it up, and press it into your skin!

If it’s brightness you’re after, glycolic acid is a great ingredient to have in your lineup, and that ingredient is featured in the other Nip + Fab product I tried–the Nip + Fab Glycolic Fix Serum. The 4% glycolic acid concentration will help to get rid of the appearance of dull skin by powering through dead skin cells, revealing brighter skin underneath. The formulation also promises to help reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles.

Okay, now honest review time: I really, really liked the consistency of these products and the way they performed. They are elegant upon application, gliding onto the skin well and absorbing quickly; and they give a perfect base for makeup. Also, each is under $20, which is pretty insane for the quality of product you’re getting.

The only drawback I could find on either of these formulations was the inclusion of fragrance, which I personally can be a bit sensitive to with prolonged use.

But if you’re looking for a well-performing skincare product that is crazy-reasonably priced and you’re not sensitive to fragrance, these two would definitely be worth a check!

So, go forth, my friends, and relax with these beauties! Or… maybe just lock yourself in your bathroom and furiously apply them until you have to dash out and stop the kids from putting a fork into the electrical socket.

Sonni Abatta is a mom of three and an Orlando lifestyle and mom blogger. She hates writing about herself in the third person but likes to do so for some reason at the end of every post. She likes writing about mom stuff. And beauty stuff. And pretty much anything else that comes to mind when she’s sitting behind a keyboard. Want to chat or collaborate? Reach out here!